AGENCIES DETAIL MOORE COUNTY'S GROWING DRUG PROBLEM

Moore County Has A Drug Problem.

Agencies that deal with the problem work full-time on remedies, but the
issues are overwhelming.

At their May meeting, members of the MooreHealth Board of Directors heard a
first-hand overview of the drug situation from three agencies that deal
with victims and perpetrators.

"It's not slowing down," said Detective Lt. Gerald Seawell, supervisor of
the six-member drug unit of the Moore County Sheriff's Office. "There's so
much out there on the street, it's unreal,"

In 2004, the unit arrested 317 persons on 983 drug charges.

Phyllis Magnuson, school health program manager for FirstHealth of the
Carolinas, illustrated the magnitude of the problem with a game in which
board members stood up in numbers representing the percentage of students
with multiple problems in the public schools.

Magnuson is a registered nurse certified as a school nurse and holds a
master's degree in nursing. She is employed by FirstHealth to coordinate
the nursing program in the Moore County Public Schools.

Her sobering "game" revealed the ratio of children from homes with such
problems as drug abuse, suicides, dropouts, sex and obesity.

Teachers are supposed to be in the classroom to provide instruction to
students, but Magnuson said they are required to supervise medication for
students, to deal with the special needs and special problems of students,
as well as maintain discipline.

"Teachers are totally overwhelmed in the classroom," Magnuson said.

Eugene B. McRae told the board that the public needs to step back and take
a careful look at conditions leading to substance abuse.

"What's wrong with our society?" McRae asked.

McRae is director of the Adult Substance Abuse Services program with
Sandhills Center for Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and
Substance Abuse Services. He said the jail stays so full that some inmates
are released early to make space for others. He said the Department of
Social Services works full time with abuse victims, and all treatment
centers have long waiting lists.

"We can't arrest enough of them," McRae said. "We can't build enough jails.
We can't build enough treatment Centers. Is it supply or demand? We have
drug dealers because we have drug users."

Endless Supply

Seawell said law-enforcement agencies cooperate with each other and are
successful in arresting dealers and confiscating enormous quantities of
illegal drugs, but the supply appears endless, and there is no limit on
potential customers.

Big loads of illegal drugs are regularly transported along interstate
highways across the United States, Seawell said. This has been the case
since he began working with the narcotics unit in 1996.

"I am amazed at the amount of drugs seized every day in North Carolina and
across the United States," Seawell said. "We get the statistics daily. It's
astounding. The numbers are astronomical."

Seawell said marijuana, cocaine (powder and crack), methamphetamine and
other drugs are readily available everywhere.

"We hit these places," Seawell said. "We arrest them. They start up again.
You keep on cutting down weeds only to have them sprout back up."

At this time, the drug problem is concentrated more in the central and
northern areas than in the southern end of Moore County, a factor that
Seawell said shows a trend toward infiltration of rural areas, rather than
in the heavily populated urban communities.

Seawell said most of the drugs coming into this area are from Mexico. He
said that investigators have learned to search for hidden places in
vehicles for electronically operated compartments where drugs are stashed
and difficult to detect.

Most of the methamphetamine labs are "mom-and-pop operations" and are often
found in homes, Seawell said.

So far, no meth labs have been found in Moore County, but Seawell said it
is only a matter of time before a lab is uncovered here.

The problem is making its way eastward from the mountains of North
Carolina. Montgomery County officers raided their first meth lab just a
week ago.

Seawell said a child under the age of one was found in that home. The boy
had a rash all over his body from exposure to the drug, and so did the
adults in the household.

Much of the meth comes into this area from Georgia or some other distant
point, but meth can be easily concocted in the home because the ingredients
are available at the drugstore, supermarket or department store, if not
already in the home.

"Some of them are like walking zombies," Seawell said of drug addicts. "And
no area in this county is immune."

All law-enforcement agencies handle drug cases, but the Sheriff's Office is
the only agency in Moore County with a full-time unit assigned to the problem.

Seawell said his unit has been successful in its investigations, but the
six officers continue to work around the clock and still cannot curb the
flow of illegal drugs into the community.

Bigger Than Law Enforcement

McRae said this task would remain unending until society faces the issues
that create this environment.

"We need to step back as a society and a culture and ask what we did to get
in this condition," McRae said. "We're the biggest drug user in the world."

Afghanistan is the leading producer of illegal narcotics and continues to
supply its biggest user, the United States.

"We have to be honest about ourselves and stop calling what is wrong
right," McRae said.

McRae said it is frightening to hear parents exclaim their relief upon
learning that their children have been arrested for using marijuana.
They're relieved that it's not cocaine or heroin, or worse. But McRae said
that pot is still illegal and is a drug that abusers frequently start with.

He called the issue "bigger than law enforcement" and blamed much of the
trouble on the permissiveness of society today.

"I don't have any easy solution," McRae said. "It's a very tough issue. I
hope we're up to it."

Derry Walker, a MooreHealth board member, introduced the speakers.

After the meeting, the Rev. David Hudson, chairman, said the board would
discuss the issues raised during the program at a future meeting.

MooreHealth is a nonprofit volunteer organization that develops cooperative
plans to promote health and improve quality of life for Moore County residents.